The Copper Basin
The rocks of the Ocoee Basin contained some of the most important deposits of copper, zinc, iron, and sulfur in the Eastern United States. The origin of these metals and sulfur was a mystery until the late 1970s when submersibles were used to study the deep oceans and geologists saw dark plumes of hot fluids emerging from vents along fractures in the ocean floors. Fluids from the "black smokers," as these vents are called, contain metals that are deposited in mounds around the vents. The deposits that were mined in the area now known as the Copper Basin (near Ducktown, TN) and other places in the Southern Appalachians probably formed in the same way when hot, metal-bearing fluids vented onto the floor of the Ocoee Basin. Copper from vents like these contributes to the economic growth of the country, as well as the region.
During the early days of mining in the Copper Basin, people did not understand or take measures to prevent the adverse effects that mining and smelting can have on the environment. Metal-bearing rocks were roasted in outdoor heaps to free the metals. The proces also released harmful sulfur dioxide fumes into the atmosphere. Sulfur dioxide also mixed with the moisture in the air and fell as acid rain, sterilizing the soil and killing what vegetation hadnt been already cut for fuel. In time, a stark, deeply gullied, barren landscape developed. Twenty-three thousand acresof land, an are large enough to be seen by astronauts in space,became a biological desert.
At the turn of the century, a method was discovered to convert the sulfur dioxide into sulfuric acid for fertilizer production. With the application of this discovery, release of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere finally ceased. In the 1930s, efforts to restore the vegetation began, but it was not until the 1970s, when new methods were used, that trees started to flourish. Most of the area has now been revegetated through cooperative efforts of Federal and State agencies, universities, and mining companies.
While sediments and minerals were being deposited to form the Ocoee Basin, other areas that are now Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia were being subjected to volcanic eruptions. Those areas in the current Ridge and Valley Province were covered by a shallow inland sea.
Encyclopedia ID: p1557
